Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — Gospel of John (English → Arabic)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md across all 21 chapters of John, plus the core passage (John 3:1-21) verse-by-verse study. Terms marked [TM] are reused exactly from the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json — no deviation permitted. Terms marked [NEW] are proposed additions specific to the John curriculum and require formal entry into translation memory (with version increment) before Phase 2 translation begins.
Risk tiers follow the baseline definitions exactly:
- Critical — doctrine-altering; mandatory human theologian review, every occurrence
- High — significant confusion/syncretism risk; mandatory human theologian review
- Medium — clarity reduction, meaning preserved; native speaker review recommended
- Low — minor imprecision; automated review sufficient
Section 1 — Terms Reused Exactly from Baseline [TM]
| Term (English) | Arabic [TM] | Risk | John Chapters | Doctrine Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | الله | Critical | 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 14, 17, 20 | Deity of Christ |
| Jesus | يسوع | Critical | all chapters | Lordship of Christ |
| Lord | الرب | Critical | 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 20, 21 | Lordship of Christ |
| Son of God | ابن الله | Critical | 1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 19, 20 | Sonship/Deity of Christ |
| Holy Spirit | الروح القدس | Critical | 1, 3, 4, 7, 14, 15, 16, 20 | Holy Spirit as Counselor |
| Father | الآب | Critical | 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 14, 17, 20 | Sonship of Christ / Unity |
| Messiah/Christ | المسيح | Critical | 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 20 | Messianic Promise |
| resurrection | القيامة | Critical | 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 20, 21 | Resurrection of Christ |
| grace | النعمة | High | 1 | Grace |
| faith / believe | الإيمان / يؤمن | High | 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 20 | Faith |
| sin | الخطية | High | 1, 3, 8, 9, 15, 16, 20 | Universal Human Accountability |
| glory / glorify | المجد / يُمجّد | High | 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 21 | Deity of Christ |
| salvation / save | الخلاص / يخلص | Critical | 3, 4, 5, 10, 12 | Salvation |
| sanctification / sanctify | التقديس / يقدس | High | 17 | Sanctification |
| holy | مقدس | High | 1, 6, 14, 17, 20 | Holy One of God |
| peace | السلام | Medium | 14, 16, 20 | Peace with God |
| Israel | إسرائيل | High | 1, 3, 4 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles |
| David | داود | Low | (background, typology) | Davidic Covenant |
| prophet / prophecy | نبي / نبوءة | Low-High | 1, 4, 6, 7, 12 | Fulfillment of Prophecy |
| kingdom of God | ملكوت الله | Medium | 3, 18 | Kingdom Mission |
| law | الناموس | Critical | 1, 7, 8, 19 | (never الشريعة) |
| mission | الإرسالية | Medium | 4, 20 | Mission to the Nations |
| apostle (root sense) | الرسول / أرسل | Medium | 3, 17, 20 | Apostleship / Sending |
| exhort/comfort (root, contrast term) | يشجع / يعظ | Low | (contrast with المعزّي, see below) | Mutual Edification |
Section 2 — New Terms Proposed for John Curriculum [NEW]
| # | Term (English) | Original Greek / Translit. | Arabic Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | John Chapters | Doctrine Link | Rejected Alternatives & Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Word (Logos) | ὁ Λόγος / ho Logos | الكلمة | al-Kalimah | Critical | 1 | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | None available — established pre-Islamic Christian Arabic usage; must be taught to correct rather than borrow the Qur’an’s kalimatun minhu (3:45) framing, which denotes a created word/sign, not the eternal, personal, fully divine Logos. |
| 2 | born again / born from above | γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν / gennēthē anōthen | يُولَد مِن فَوق (primary) / يُولَد ثانيةً / من جديد (secondary sense, required for 3:4) | yūlad min fawq / yūlad thāniyatan | Critical | 3 | The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | Must preserve both senses of ἄνωθεν since Nicodemus’s confusion in 3:4 depends on the ambiguity; no single Arabic term carries both without a translator’s note. |
| 3 | eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος / zōē aiōnios | الحياة الأبدية | al-ḥayāh al-abadiyyah | Critical | 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 17 | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | Must not be reframed as a probable future reward pending final deeds-weighing (mīzān); this is a present, assured possession (3:36; 5:24; 17:3). |
| 4 | light (of the world) | φῶς / phōs | النور | al-nūr | High | 1, 3, 8, 9, 12 | Deity of Christ / “I Am” Statements | Al-Nūr is one of Allah’s 99 Names; also avoid conflation with Sufi Nūr Muḥammadī doctrine of a created pre-existent luminous Muhammad — Christ’s light-identity is the eternal Word himself, not a created luminous being. |
| 5 | darkness | σκοτία / skotia | الظلام / الظلمة | al-ẕalām / al-ẕulmah | Medium | 1, 3, 12 | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | Broadly shared metaphor; reinforce moral culpability (“loved darkness”), not neutral ignorance. |
| 6 | truth | ἀλήθεια / alētheia | الحق | al-Ḥaqq | High | 1, 3, 4, 8, 14, 16, 17, 18 | ”I Am” Statements / Holy Spirit as Counselor | Al-Ḥaqq is one of Allah’s 99 Names; Christ’s self-identification as “the truth” (14:6) intensifies this collision — must not be softened. |
| 7 | testify / testimony | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία / martyreō / martyria | يشهد / الشهادة | yashhad / al-shahādah | High | 1, 3, 5, 8, 21 | Inspiration of Scripture / Fulfillment of Prophecy | Shares vocabulary with the Islamic shahāda creedal formula — genuinely distinct concept (eyewitness attestation vs. fixed creed) requiring explicit disambiguation at first use. |
| 8 | world (κόσμος) | κόσμος / kosmos | العالم | al-‘ālam | Medium | 1, 3, 4, 12, 15, 16, 17 | God’s Love for the World | Dual sense (loved by God / hostile to God) must be disambiguated contextually per occurrence. |
| 9 | flesh (natural birth sense) | σάρξ / sarx | الجسد | al-jasad | Medium | 3, 6 | The New Birth (contrast w/ Incarnation) | Distinguish from the incarnational σάρξ of 1:14 (see التجسد [TM]) — this is ordinary human generation, not the unique Incarnation event. |
| 10 | grace and truth | χάρις καὶ ἀλήθεια / charis kai alētheia | النعمة والحق | al-ni’mah wa-l-ḥaqq | High | 1 | Grace / Deity of Christ | Compounds baseline grace [TM] risk with the al-Ḥaqq divine-name risk (#6 above). |
| 11 | only Son / one-and-only (monogenēs) | μονογενής / monogenēs | الابن الوحيد | al-Ibn al-Waḥīd | Critical | 1, 3 | Sonship of Christ (extends baseline son_of_god [التزم بـ: ابن الله]) | Never dilute to “الحبيب من الله” per baseline forbidden-substitution rule; render uniqueness accurately while retaining full “ابن الله.” |
| 12 | Lamb of God | ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ / amnos tou Theou | حَمَل الله | Ḥamal Allāh | Critical | 1 | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | Directly engages Qur’an 6:164’s denial of vicarious sin-bearing; the Abraham/Ishmael substitute-ram narrative may serve as a partial but insufficient cultural bridge. |
| 13 | Son of Man | ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου / ho huios tou anthrōpou | ابن الإنسان | Ibn al-Insān | High | 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13 | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | Danielic exalted-judge background (Dan. 7:13-14) must not be read as mere emphasis on ordinary humanity in contrast to “Son of God.” |
| 14 | lifted up | ὑψωθῆναι / hypsōthēnai | يُرفَع | yurfa’ | Critical | 3, 8, 12 | Christ’s Substitutionary Death / Resurrection | Direct lexical collision with Qur’an 4:158’s rafa’ahu Allāhu (“raised him to Himself”), used to support crucifixion-denial (4:157); requires apologetic scaffolding every occurrence. |
| 15 | wrath of God | ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ / orgē tou Theou | غضب الله | ghaḍab Allāh | Medium-High | 3 | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | Shared vocabulary (Islamic theology affirms Allah’s ghaḍab); risk is contextual — keep tied to individual belief/unbelief, not communal/ethnic framing. |
| 16 | Rabbi | ῥαββί / rhabbi | رَبِّي / يا معلّم | Rabbī / yā mu’allim | Low (false-friend caution) | 1, 3, 20 | (background title) | Phonetically similar to but etymologically unrelated to الرب [TM, Lord]; footnote recommended at first occurrence. |
| 17 | signs | σημεῖα / sēmeia | آية / آيات | āyah / āyāt | High | 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 20 | Inspiration of Scripture | Shared vocabulary with Qur’anic āyah (verse/miracle); frame John’s signs as pointing to Christ’s divine identity, not prophetic office alone. |
| 18 | living water | ὕδωρ ζῶν / hydōr zōn | ماء حي | mā’ ḥayy | Medium | 4, 7 | Holy Spirit as Counselor / Eternal Life | Avoid unintended parallel to Zamzam well-water veneration; frame as Spirit-given eternal life, not a physically blessed substance. |
| 19 | worship (in spirit and truth / directed at Christ) | προσκυνέω / proskyneō | يسجد / يعبد | yasjud / ya’bud | Critical (when directed at Christ, e.g. 9:38, 20:28); High (general, e.g. 4:23-24) | 4, 9, 12, 20 | Deity of Christ | Sujūd is the paradigm posture of Islamic ṣalāh directed exclusively to Allah; worship directed at Jesus personally is the paradigm shirk-collision case and must never be softened to mere respect. |
| 20 | making himself equal with God | ἴσον ἑαυτὸν … τῷ Θεῷ / ison heauton … tō Theō | يُساوي نفسه بالله | yusāwī nafsahu bi-Allāh | Critical | 5 | Deity of Christ | Narrator explicitly affirms the accusation as accurate, not exaggerated — top-priority theologian flag. |
| 21 | resurrection of life / resurrection of judgment | ἀνάστασις ζωῆς / κρίσεως / anastasis zōēs / kriseōs | قيامة الحياة / قيامة الدينونة | qiyāmat al-ḥayāh / qiyāmat al-dīnūnah | Critical | 5 | Resurrection / Judgment | Combines baseline resurrection [التزم بـ: القيامة] with judgment-outcome tied to response to the Son, not solely final deeds-weighing. |
| 22 | bread of life / bread from heaven | ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς / ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ | خبز الحياة / الخبز الذي نزل من السماء | khubz al-ḥayāh / al-khubz alladhī nazala min al-samā’ | High | 6 | ”I Am” Statements | Shared manna background (Qur’an 2:57, 7:160) is a bridge, but Christ personally being the bread (not merely a provision from God) is a stronger, distinct claim. |
| 23 | eat my flesh, drink my blood | φάγῃ τὴν σάρκα / πίῃ τὸ αἷμα | يأكل جسدي ويشرب دمي | ya’kul jasadī wa-yashrab damī | High | 6 | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | Requires explicit figurative/sacramental framing, not literal cannibalism; note the shared blood-consumption revulsion in both Jewish and Islamic dietary law (Qur’an 5:3). |
| 24 | Holy One of God | ὁ Ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ / ho Hagios tou Theou | قدوس الله | Quddūs Allāh | Critical | 6 | Deity of Christ | Al-Quddūs is one of Allah’s 99 Names, applied here directly to Christ — same collision pattern as lord [TM]. |
| 25 | good shepherd | ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός / ho poimēn ho kalos | الراعي الصالح | al-rā’ī al-ṣāliḥ | Medium | 10, 21 | ”I Am” Statements / Substitutionary Death | Broadly shared, positive cultural metaphor; low independent collision, but preserve full “I Am” self-predication weight. |
| 26 | lay down his life (voluntary, self-resurrecting) | τὴν ψυχὴν τίθησιν … πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν / tēn psychēn tithēsin … palin labein autēn | يبذل نفسه … له سلطان أن يأخذها ثانية | yabdhulu nafsahu … lahu sulṭān an ya’khudhahā thāniyatan | Critical | 10 | Christ’s Substitutionary Death / Resurrection | Doubly collides with Qur’an 6:164 (vicarious sin-bearing) and asserts self-authority to rise again — beyond even standard resurrection accounts. |
| 27 | one flock, one shepherd | μία ποίμνη, εἷς ποιμήν | قطيع واحد وراعٍ واحد | qaṭī’ wāḥid wa-rā’ī wāḥid | High | 10 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | Same pastoral care as baseline unity_of_jews_and_gentiles. |
| 28 | I and the Father are one | ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν / egō kai ho Patēr hen esmen | أنا والآب واحد | anā wa-l-Āb wāḥid | Critical | 10 | Unity of the Father and the Son | Grammatically neuter ἕν (“one thing/reality”) not masculine “one person”; avoid both tritheism and mere-moral-agreement readings. Top-priority theologian flag. |
| 29 | blasphemy | βλασφημία / blasphēmia | التجديف | al-tajdīf | High | 10 | Deity of Christ | Hostile witness corroboration of the deity claim, parallel to ch.5’s “equal with God.” |
| 30 | I am (absolute self-existence formula) | ἐγώ εἰμι / egō eimi | أنا هو / أنا كائن | anā huwa / anā kā’in | Critical | 8 (8:58), 18 (18:5-6) | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | Preserve present-tense self-existence force (echo of LXX Exodus 3:14); do not render as simple past “I existed.” Top-priority theologian flag, alongside items 28 and 33. |
| 31 | judicial blindness (Isaiah quotation) | ἐπήρωσεν / ἐπώρωσεν, citing Isa. 6:10 | أعمى عيونهم وقسّى قلوبهم | a’mā ‘uyūnahum wa-qassā qulūbahum | High | 12 | Fulfillment of Prophecy / Judgment | Judicial response to sustained willful rejection, not detached fatalism (contrast baseline election/providence folk-qadar caution). |
| 32 | Advocate / Counselor / Comforter (Paraclete) | ὁ Παράκλητος / ho Paraklētos | المعزّي | al-Mu’azzī | Critical | 14, 15, 16 | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | Top-priority polemical flag: addresses and rebuts the Periklytos/“Aḥmad” substitution claim (no manuscript support; Acts 2 timeline predates Muhammad) explicitly in accompanying materials. |
| 33 | the way, the truth, and the life | ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή | أنا الطريق والحق والحياة | anā al-ṭarīq wa-l-ḥaqq wa-l-ḥayāh | Critical | 14 | ”I Am” Statements / Eternal Life | Absolute exclusivity claim (“no one comes to the Father except through me”) must not be pluralistically softened. |
| 34 | abide / remain | μένω / menō | يثبت | yathbut | Medium-High | 15 | Christ-Centered Ministry / Union with Christ | Must be relational/dependent communion, not Sufi mystical absorption (fanā’, waḥdat al-wujūd) of the self into the divine. |
| 35 | greater love has no one than this | μείζονα ταύτης ἀγάπην οὐδεὶς ἔχει | ليس لأحد محبة أعظم من هذه | laysa li-aḥad maḥabbah a’ẕam min hādhihi | High | 15 | God’s Love for the World / Substitutionary Death | Ties agapē-love directly to voluntary self-sacrifice. |
| 36 | that they may be one as we are one | ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν καθὼς ἡμεῖς ἕν ἐσμεν | ليكونوا واحدًا كما نحن واحد | li-yakūnū wāḥidan kamā naḥnu wāḥid | Critical | 17 | Unity of the Father and the Son | Distinguish relational/purposive believer-unity from ontological Father-Son unity; top-priority theologian flag alongside item 28. |
| 37 | crucify / cross | σταυρόω / σταυρός | يُصلَب / الصليب | yuṣlab / al-ṣalīb | Critical | 19 (and implied throughout Passion narrative) | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | Highest-priority historicity term in the book — direct collision with Qur’an 4:157’s crucifixion denial; requires apologetic scaffolding every occurrence. |
| 38 | It is finished | τετέλεσται / tetelestai | قد اكتمل / تم | qad iktamal / tamm | High | 19 | Salvation / Justification (once-for-all completion) | Perfect-aspect, completive force required — parallel to baseline justification’s one-time forensic verdict, not an ongoing process. |
| 39 | blood and water | αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ | دم وماء | dam wa-mā’ | High | 19 | Christ’s Substitutionary Death (historicity) | Physiological corroboration of real, physical death — apologetic scaffolding against “mere appearance” readings. |
| 40 | worship directed at the risen Christ / My Lord and my God | Ὁ Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου / Ho Kyrios mou kai ho Theos mou | ربي وإلهي | Rabbī wa-Ilāhī | Critical | 20 | Deity of Christ | Combines الرب [TM] and الله [TM] in unmediated personal address to Jesus — the Gospel’s climactic deity confession; top-priority theologian flag. |
| 41 | that you may believe … and have life in his name | ἵνα πιστεύσητε … ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ | لكي تؤمنوا … ولكي تكون لكم حياة باسمه | li-kay tu’minū … wa-li-kay takūna lakum ḥayāh bi-ismihi | Critical | 20 | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | The Gospel’s own purpose statement (20:30-31); fixed rendering required across every document in the curriculum, per the same consistency principle as baseline Romans 1:16-17. |
| 42 | the hour (has come/not yet come) | ἡ ὥρα / hē hōra | الساعة | al-sā’ah | Medium | 2, 12, 13, 17 | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | Recurring motif tracking toward the crucifixion-glorification; track consistently across all occurrences. |
| 43 | temple of his body | ναὸς τοῦ σώματος / naos tou sōmatos | هيكل جسده | haykal jasadihi | High | 2 | Incarnation / Resurrection | Distinguish الهيكل (temple) clearly from مسجد (mosque); requires resurrection apologetic scaffolding since it presupposes real bodily death. |
| 44 | equal honor to Son as to Father | τιμῶσι τὸν υἱὸν καθὼς τιμῶσι τὸν πατέρα | يُكرِّمون الابن كما يُكرِّمون الآب | yukarrimūn al-Ibn kamā yukarrimūn al-Āb | Critical | 5 | Deity of Christ / Unity of Father and Son | Direct call to render the Son equal worship-level honor as the Father. |
| 45 | resurrection and the life (“I am”) | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή | أنا القيامة والحياة | anā al-qiyāmah wa-l-ḥayāh | Critical | 11 | Resurrection of Christ / Eternal Life | Combines القيامة [TM] with self-predicated “I am” divine-claim pattern. |
| 46 | Lazarus raised (temporary) vs. Christ’s resurrection (final) | ἐγείρω (Lazarus) vs. ἀνάστασις (Christ) | أقام لعازر (temporary) vs. قيامة المسيح [TM] (final) | aqāma Lāzar / qiyāmat al-Masīḥ | Medium (translation-note risk) | 11 | Resurrection of Christ | Clarify Lazarus’s raising is a reversible resuscitation (he dies again), not equivalent in category to Christ’s final, unrepeatable resurrection. |
| 47 | do you love me? (agapaō/phileō distinction) | ἀγαπᾷς με; / φιλεῖς με; | تحبني؟ (single Arabic verb covers both) | tuḥibbunī? | Medium (translation-mechanics note, not doctrinal) | 21 | God’s Love for the World (extension) | Footnote on the Greek’s two love-verbs optional; no doctrinal content lost using المحبة [see item 48] uniformly. |
| 48 | love (agapaō/agapē, God’s love) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη | يحب / المحبة | yuḥibb / al-maḥabbah | High | 3, 13, 15, 17, 21 | God’s Love for the World | Classical Sunni theology generally frames Allah’s love as conditional/responsive to obedience; John 3:16’s love precedes and causes faith in an unworthy world — parallel collision to baseline grace. |
| 49 | children of Abraham / children of the devil | τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ / τέκνα τοῦ διαβόλου | أبناء إبراهيم / أبناء الشيطان | abnā’ Ibrāhīm / abnā’ al-Shayṭān | High | 8 | Fulfillment of Prophecy / true covenant identity | Needs non-polemical framing given Islam’s own strong Abrahamic (Ishmaelite) descent claim; Jesus’s redefinition is spiritual, not a blanket ethnic dismissal. |
| 50 | freedom / slaves to sin | ἐλευθερόω / δοῦλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας | يُحرِّر / عبيد للخطية | yuḥarrir / ‘abīd li-l-khaṭīyah | High | 8 | Universal Human Accountability (extends baseline sin) | Relational bondage-framing of sin, inheriting baseline fiṭrah-collision caution. |
| 51 | new commandment (love one another) | ἐντολὴν καινήν | وصية جديدة | waṣiyyah jadīdah | Low-Medium | 13, 15 | Mutual Edification | Distinguish from الناموس [TM] (Mosaic Law) category — relational, love-grounded ethic. |
| 52 | condemned already (present-tense judgment) | ἤδη κέκριται / ēdē kekritai | مدانٌ منذ الآن | madān mundhu al-ān | Critical | 3 | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | Present, settled verdict based on belief/unbelief now, contra Islamic default of judgment-outcome uncertainty until the final Mīzān; see baseline assurance_of_salvation. |
| 53 | works/deeds (diagnostic, not meritorious) | ἔργα / erga | الأعمال | al-a’māl | High | 3 (esp. 19-21), 5, 9, 10 | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | Must not be read as the meritorious deeds weighed on the Islamic Mīzān; here deeds reveal, not earn, one’s standing. |
| 54 | perish | ἀπόλλυμι / apollymi | يهلك | yahlik | Medium | 3, 10 | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | Preserve stark either/or (perish vs. eternal life) framing. |
| 55 | wind/Spirit wordplay | πνεῦμα (dual sense) / pneuma | الريح (wind) / الروح (Spirit) — two distinct Arabic words required | al-rīḥ / al-Rūḥ | High (translation-mechanics) | 3 | New Birth / Holy Spirit as Counselor | Greek’s single-word wordplay is lost in Arabic; translator’s note required to preserve the theological point (Spirit’s unseen origin, undeniable effect). |
Section 3 — Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference Index
| Curriculum Doctrine | Primary Terms (Section 1 + 2) | Primary Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word) | الكلمة, أنا هو/أنا كائن, يُساوي نفسه بالله, أنا والآب واحد, المجد, النور, الحق | 1, 5, 8, 10, 17, 20 |
| The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | يُولَد مِن فَوق, الماء والروح, الريح/الروح wordplay, الجسد | 3 |
| Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | الحياة الأبدية, يؤمن, أنا الطريق والحق والحياة, يهلك, لكي تؤمنوا…حياة باسمه | 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 17, 20 |
| God’s Love for the World | المحبة/يحب, العالم, بذل/أعطى, ليس لأحد محبة أعظم من هذه | 3, 15, 21 |
| Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | يدين/الدينونة, مدانٌ منذ الآن, غضب الله, النور/الظلام, الأعمال, قيامة الحياة/قيامة الدينونة, أعمى عيونهم | 3, 5, 9, 12 |
| The Seven “I Am” Statements | أنا خبز الحياة, أنا نور العالم, أنا الراعي الصالح, أنا القيامة والحياة, أنا الطريق والحق والحياة, أنا الكرمة الحقيقية, أنا هو (absolute) | 6, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 8/18 |
| The Holy Spirit as Counselor | الروح القدس, المعزّي, أنهار ماء حي, يهديكم إلى جميع الحق | 3, 4, 7, 14, 15, 16, 20 |
| Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | حَمَل الله, يبذل نفسه, يُرفَع, يُصلَب/الصليب, قد اكتمل, دم وماء, القيامة, هيكل جسده | 1, 3, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20 |
| Unity of the Father and the Son | أنا والآب واحد, ليكونوا واحدًا كما نحن واحد, يُكرِّمون الابن كما يُكرِّمون الآب | 5, 10, 17 |
This glossary must be merged into a version-incremented translation_memory.json before any Phase 2 segment translation of John begins. All Critical and High risk items above require the same escalation and forbidden-substitution enforcement mechanisms documented in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md; this document’s John-specific findings should be appended to that instruction set as a curriculum extension, not a replacement, for the Romans-derived rules.
Critical Risk Terms
Advocate Paraclete
Approved rendering: المعزّي
Transliteration: al-Mu’azzī
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: البارقليط (reserved for polemic-specific apologetics material only, never the default rendering), المحامي (too narrowly legal, loses comfort register), الشفيع (invites confusion with the contested Islamic intercession category)
Original: ὁ Παράκλητος
Category: Pneumatology
John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7. Single most weaponized John term in Muslim-Christian polemics: some apologetic traditions claim Parakletos reflects a corrupted ‘Periklytos’ predicting Muhammad (‘Ahmad’). No Greek manuscript attests this; Acts 2 places the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost centuries before Muhammad. Every occurrence flagged for theologian review; the rebuttal belongs in accompanying materials, never inside the base translation.
Believers One As Father Son
Approved rendering: ليكونوا واحدًا كما نحن واحد
Transliteration: li-yakūnū wāḥidan kamā naḥnu wāḥid
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν καθὼς ἡμεῖς ἕν ἐσμεν
Category: Christology
John 17:11,21-22. The Father-Son unity is ontological; believers’ unity is relational/purposive. Collapsing this distinction in either direction — deifying believers, or reducing the Father-Son bond to mere agreement — must be avoided.
Born Again
Approved rendering: يُولَد مِن فَوق / يُولَد ثانيةً
Transliteration: yūlad min fawq / yūlad thāniyatan
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: يولد من جديد فقط (collapsing to only ‘anew’, losing the ‘from above’ sense needed for the rest of the discourse)
Original: γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν
Category: New Birth
John 3:3,5,7. Islamic fitrah anthropology has no category for a second, spiritually re-creative birth. The Arabic must carry both senses of anothen since Nicodemus’s confusion in 3:4 depends on the ambiguity being real for the reader too. Render primarily as يُولَد مِن فَوق, retaining يُولَد ثانيةً/من جديد as the secondary sense at 3:4, with a translator’s note.
Condemned Already
Approved rendering: مدانٌ منذ الآن
Transliteration: madān mundhu al-ān
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief / Assurance and the Present Verdict of Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: سيُدان (future tense, loses the settled present-verdict force)
Original: ἤδη κέκριται
Category: Salvation
John 3:18, ede kekritai. Collides with the mainstream Sunni framework in which no one’s final standing is knowable before the Mizan. Render with full present-tense, settled force; never soften into a future-only or merely probable outcome.
Crucify Cross
Approved rendering: يُصلَب / الصليب
Transliteration: yuṣlab / al-ṣalīb
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: σταυρόω / σταυρός
Category: Christology
John 19. Single highest-priority historicity term in the book — not a word-choice risk but a background-assumption risk, since Qur’an 4:157 explicitly denies the crucifixion occurred. Every occurrence needs historical-apologetic scaffolding establishing the crucifixion as a real, historical event.
Equal With God
Approved rendering: يُساوي نفسه بالله
Transliteration: yusāwī nafsahu bi-Allāh
Doctrine: Worship Directed at Christ
Original: ἴσον ἑαυτὸν … τῷ Θεῷ
Category: Christology
John 5:18. The narrator’s own explicit description of Jesus’s claim, affirmed by John as accurate, not exaggerated. Structurally equivalent to the charge of shirk. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: الحياة الأبدية
Transliteration: al-ḥayāh al-abadiyyah
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
John 3:15-16,36; 5:24; 6:47; 11:25; 17:3. Mainstream Islamic eschatology holds Paradise as a possible future reward contingent on the final weighing of deeds (al-mizan); John’s eternal life is a present, assured possession received now — never hedge into a Judgment-Day-pending framing.
Father And Son Are One
Approved rendering: أنا والآب واحد
Transliteration: anā wa-l-Āb wāḥid
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν
Category: Christology
John 10:30. Grammatically neuter (‘one thing/reality’), not masculine ‘one [person]’ — cannot be forced into واحد alone; supply via teaching notes. Avoid both tritheism and mere-moral-agreement readings. Maximal collision with tawhid’s undivided oneness. Top-priority theologian flag.
Father
Approved rendering: الآب
Transliteration: al-Āb
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ / Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: الولي
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
CRITICAL: paired risk with ‘Son of God’. Islamic tanzih theology treats begetting language applied to Allah as anthropomorphism verging on shirk. الولي (guardian/patron), used by some Muslim-idiom translations as a substitute for ‘Father’ in John 5, 10, 14, 17, is explicitly rejected — it erases the filial relationship John’s Christology depends on. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
God
Approved rendering: الله
Transliteration: Allāh
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
CRITICAL: Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, used by Arabic-speaking Christians for centuries before and after Islam; no viable alternative exists. Islamic tawhid’s strictly unitarian, non-incarnate conception must be actively distinguished from the Trinitarian conception the same word denotes here, especially given John’s direct ascriptions of this title to Christ (1:1; 20:28). [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Holy One Of God
Approved rendering: قدوس الله
Transliteration: Quddūs Allāh
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: ὁ Ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: Christology
John 6:69, Peter’s confession. Al-Quddus (‘The Holy One’) is one of Allah’s 99 Names; applying it as a title of Christ is structurally the same collision pattern as lord/الرب — a divine title ascribed to a human-born man.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: الروح القدس
Transliteration: al-Rūḥ al-Qudus
Doctrine: Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: Pneumatology
CRITICAL: identical phrase appears in the Qur’an (2:87, 2:253) but mainstream tafsir identifies it there with the created angel Jibril, not a co-equal divine Person. Every John occurrence (3:5-8; 14; 15:26; 16; 20:22) needs this distinction made explicit. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
I Am Absolute
Approved rendering: أنا هو / أنا كائن
Transliteration: anā huwa / anā kā’in
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word) / The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Rejected alternatives: كنت موجودًا قبل إبراهيم (simple past, loses the Exodus 3:14 echo)
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι
Category: Christology
John 8:58, 18:5-6. Echoes LXX Exodus 3:14. Must preserve present-tense self-existence force; never smooth into a simple past. Top-priority theologian flag at every occurrence, alongside 5:18, 10:30, 20:28.
Jesus
Approved rendering: يسوع
Transliteration: Yasū’
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: عيسى
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: established Eastern Christian Arabic form, predates Islam. عيسى (‘Isa) is exclusively the Quranic name and is explicitly rejected as the primary rendering, since it already carries the non-crucified, non-divine, prophet-only theology John directly contradicts. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Lamb Of God
Approved rendering: حَمَل الله
Transliteration: Ḥamal Allāh
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: Christology
John 1:29,36. Directly engages Qur’an 6:164’s denial of vicarious sin-bearing. The Abraham/Ishmael substitute-ram narrative offers a partial cultural bridge but must be taught as insufficient in scope compared to John’s claim that one man’s death removes the sin of the whole world.
Law
Approved rendering: الناموس
Transliteration: al-nāmūs
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: الشريعة, الشرع
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
CRITICAL: never substitute الشريعة/الشرع, which would make Christ’s law-fulfillment argument (John 1:17,45; 7:19,23,49,51; 8:5,17; 19:7) sound like an attack on Islamic religious law specifically. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: يبذل نفسه
Transliteration: yabdhulu nafsahu
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν … πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν
Category: Christology
John 10:11,15,17-18. Doubly collides with the Qur’an: substitutionary death for others’ benefit (contra 6:164) AND Christ’s own self-authority to ‘take it up again’ — self-resurrecting power beyond even other resurrection accounts where the Father is the agent. Preserve both halves of the claim together.
Lifted Up
Approved rendering: يُرفَع
Transliteration: yurfa’
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὑψωθῆναι
Category: Christology
John 3:14, 8:28, 12:32-34. Direct lexical collision with Qur’an 4:158’s rafa’ahu Allahu, paired with 4:157’s crucifixion denial to argue Jesus was rescued rather than crucified. Requires explicit apologetic scaffolding at every occurrence: ‘lifted up’ = crucifixion as the means of exaltation, not an alternative to it; cf. 12:33’s narrator gloss.
Lord
Approved rendering: الرب
Transliteration: al-Rabb
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: السيد, المولى
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: al-Rabb is a defining title of Allah (Rabb al-‘Alamin). Applying it to Jesus (John 20:18,28) is doctrinally exact but maximally confrontational; never softened to ‘master/patron’. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Messiah
Approved rendering: المسيح
Transliteration: al-Masīh
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: ὁ Χριστός
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: al-Masih is ‘Isa al-Masih’s own Quranic title, pre-loaded with a competing narrative (honored prophet, not divine, not crucified, not risen). Every John occurrence (1:41; 4:25-26,29; 11:27; 20:31) must actively correct this pre-loaded content. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
My Lord And My God
Approved rendering: ربي وإلهي
Transliteration: Rabbī wa-Ilāhī
Doctrine: Worship Directed at Christ
Rejected alternatives: يا رب! (softened to a mere exclamation of surprise)
Original: Ὁ Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου
Category: Christology
John 20:28. Combines الرب and الله in unmediated personal address to the risen Christ — the Gospel’s climactic deity confession. No softening, qualification, or hedging into a merely honorific ‘master’ is acceptable; top-priority theologian flag.
Only Son
Approved rendering: الابن الوحيد
Transliteration: al-Ibn al-Waḥīd
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الحبيب من الله, الابن الفريد (under-translates filial/inheritance weight)
Original: μονογενής (υἱός)
Category: Christology
Monogenes, John 1:14,18; 3:16,18. Directly triggers the forbidden-substitution rule for son_of_god: Qur’an 112:3 and 19:35. Never dilute to الحبيب من الله; render uniqueness accurately as الوحيد while retaining ابن الله in full wherever both co-occur.
Purpose Statement Believe Life
Approved rendering: لكي تؤمنوا … ولكي تكون لكم حياة باسمه
Transliteration: li-kay tu’minū … wa-li-kay takūna lakum ḥayāh bi-ismihi
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ἵνα πιστεύσητε … καὶ … ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ
Category: Salvation
John 20:30-31. John’s own statement of the entire Gospel’s purpose — analogous in importance to Romans 1:16-17. Fixed rendering required, used identically across every document in the John curriculum.
Resurrection And The Life
Approved rendering: أنا القيامة والحياة
Transliteration: anā al-qiyāmah wa-l-ḥayāh
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
John 11:25. Inherits the full weight of القيامة (crucifixion-denial apologetic scaffolding) plus the self-predicated divine-claim pattern of the ‘I Am’ statements.
Resurrection Of Life And Judgment
Approved rendering: قيامة الحياة / قيامة الدينونة
Transliteration: qiyāmat al-ḥayāh / qiyāmat al-dīnūnah
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς / ἀνάστασιν κρίσεως
Category: Salvation
John 5:28-29. Two distinct final bodily resurrections under Christ’s authority. Inherits القيامة’s full risk plus the Judgment doctrine’s collision with the Islamic Yawm al-Din framework; here outcome is tied to response to the Son, not solely a final deeds-weighing.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: القيامة
Transliteration: al-qiyāmah
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: al-qiyamah is safe shared vocabulary (Yawm al-Qiyamah); the real risk is upstream — Qur’an 4:157 denies Jesus was crucified at all. Every John occurrence (2:19-22; 5:28-29; 6; 11:25; 20:1-18) needs apologetic scaffolding establishing the crucifixion as historical fact first. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Salvation
Approved rendering: الخلاص
Transliteration: al-khalāṣ
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: النجاة, الفوز بالجنة
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: mainstream Islamic soteriology has no assured salvation prior to a deeds-weighing (mizan) at Judgment. John presents salvation (3:17; 4:22) as secured through Christ’s mission, not a probabilistic outcome. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ابن الله
Transliteration: Ibn Allāh
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الحبيب من الله, الكلمة من الله (بدون ‘ابن’)
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: Qur’an 112:3 and 19:35 deny begetting/sonship language for Allah. الحبيب من الله is explicitly rejected as a dilution. Retain the full phrase in every John occurrence (1:49; 3:16-18; 11:27; 20:31). [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Way Truth Life
Approved rendering: أنا الطريق والحق والحياة
Transliteration: anā al-ṭarīq wa-l-ḥaqq wa-l-ḥayāh
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Rejected alternatives: أنا طريق من الطرق (pluralistic softening)
Original: ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
John 14:6. Compounds the al-Haqq divine-name collision with an absolute exclusivity claim (‘no one comes to the Father except through me’); must not be softened into ‘a way’ or pluralistically qualified.
Word
Approved rendering: الكلمة
Transliteration: al-Kalimah
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: اللوغوس (unintelligible transliteration), كلمة من الله (diluted to the Qur’anic ‘a word from Him’ sense)
Original: ὁ Λόγος
Category: Christology
John 1:1,14. Qur’an 3:45/4:171 calls Jesus ‘a word from Him’ (kalimatun minhu) — genuinely shared vocabulary, but there Jesus is a created word/sign, not the eternal, personal, fully divine Logos who himself IS God. Must actively correct, not passively borrow, this Qur’anic framing. Retain الكلمة, established pre-Islamic Christian Arabic term; never transliterate the Greek.
Worship Of Christ
Approved rendering: سجد له / يعبد
Transliteration: sajada lahu / ya’bud
Doctrine: Worship Directed at Christ
Rejected alternatives: انحنى له (bowed to him, softened to mere respect), كرّمه فقط (honored him only, without religious worship force)
Original: προσκυνέω (directed at Jesus)
Category: Christology
John 9:38, 20:28. Sujud is the defining posture of Islamic salah, directed exclusively to Allah; worship directed at Jesus personally is the paradigm shirk-collision case in the Gospel. Must never be softened to a merely respectful bow.
High Risk Terms
Abide
Approved rendering: يثبت
Transliteration: yathbut
Doctrine: Abiding Union with Christ
Rejected alternatives: يذوب / يفنى في (would imply Sufi mystical absorption/annihilation)
Original: μένω
Category: Church
John 15:1-10. Must be taught as ongoing, relational, dependent communion with a distinct divine Person, never assimilated to Sufi mystical absorption (fana’, wahdat al-wujud).
Apostle
Approved rendering: الرسول
Transliteration: al-rasūl
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: المبعوث, التلميذ المرسل
Original: ἀπόστολος (root sense, via ἀποστέλλω)
Category: Church
الرسول is Muhammad’s own defining title (Rasul Allah). Underlies John’s repeated ‘sending’ language for both Christ and the disciples (17:18; 20:21); distinguish the NT sending-relationship from the Islamic prophetic office. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Blasphemy
Approved rendering: التجديف
Transliteration: al-tajdīf
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: βλασφημία
Category: Christology
John 10:33. The formal charge against Jesus for ‘making yourself God,’ recorded by the narrator as the accusers’ accurate understanding of his claim — hostile-witness corroboration parallel to ch.5’s ‘equal with God.‘
Blood And Water
Approved rendering: دم وماء
Transliteration: dam wa-mā’
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ
Category: Christology
John 19:34-35. Physiological detail confirming Jesus’s actual, physical death; functions as apologetic scaffolding directly countering any ‘mere appearance’ (shubbiha lahum) reading of Christ’s death.
Bread Of Life
Approved rendering: خبز الحياة
Transliteration: khubz al-ḥayāh
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
John 6:35. Shared manna background (Qur’an 2:57, 7:160) is a bridge, but Christ personally BEING the bread that gives eternal life, not merely a provision from God, is a stronger, more personal claim requiring explicit development.
Children Of Abraham
Approved rendering: أبناء إبراهيم / أبناء الشيطان
Transliteration: abnā’ Ibrāhīm / abnā’ al-Shayṭān
Doctrine: Children of Abraham and True Spiritual Descent
Original: τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ / τέκνα τοῦ διαβόλου
Category: Church
John 8:33-44. Given Islam’s own strong Abrahamic (Ishmaelite) descent claim, needs careful, non-polemical framing as Jesus’s argument addressed to his own Jewish interlocutors, not a blanket dismissal of any group’s Abrahamic identity.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: أبناء الله
Transliteration: abnā’ Allāh
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: أبناء الله بالتبني الشرعي الكامل لكل مؤمن كما لابن الله (over-technical; avoid conflating with الاستلحاق-forbidden weaker sense)
John 1:12-13. Distinct from ابن الله (Christ’s unique, eternal Sonship) and from الابن الوحيد (monogenes); believers become children of God derivatively, by new birth (‘born of God, not of blood or human will’), never by nature as Christ is. Must not be conflated with Christ’s unique title, nor read as the weaker استلحاق affiliation forbidden in the baseline adoption entry.
Condemn Judge
Approved rendering: يدين / يحكم
Transliteration: yadīn / yaḥkum
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: κρίνω
Category: Judgment
John 3:17-18, 5:22,27. Distinguish by tense/aspect and frame against Islamic Yawm al-Din expectations, where judgment is exclusively a future, deeds-based event; John presents an already-active judicial dimension.
Eat Flesh Drink Blood
Approved rendering: يأكل جسدي ويشرب دمي
Transliteration: ya’kul jasadī wa-yashrab damī
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: φάγῃ τὴν σάρκα … πίῃ τὸ αἷμα
Category: Christology
John 6:53-56. Blood consumption is ritually forbidden in both Jewish and Islamic dietary law (Qur’an 5:3); teaching must clarify this is figurative, spiritual appropriation of Christ’s sacrificial death, later given sacramental form, not literal cannibalism.
Election
Approved rendering: اختيار الله
Transliteration: ikhtiyār Allāh
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Do not let ikhtiyar collapse into folk qadar fatalism. Relevant to John’s language of the Father giving/drawing specific people to the Son (6:37,44; 10:29; 15:16; 17:2,6,9), which is God’s specific soteriological choice, not generic fatalism. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Faith
Approved rendering: الإيمان
Transliteration: al-īmān
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: الاعتقاد, الثقة
Original: πιστεύω / πίστις
Category: Faith
Iman is primarily creedal assent in Islamic usage. Pauline/Johannine faith is personal trust/reliance in Christ specifically — John repeatedly supplies the explicit object ‘in him’, which must never be dropped. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Freedom From Sin
Approved rendering: عبيد للخطية / يُحرِّر
Transliteration: ‘abīd li-l-khaṭīyah / yuḥarrir
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability and Bondage to Sin
Original: ἐλευθερόω / δοῦλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας
Category: Sin
John 8:34-36. Inherits the baseline sin entry’s fitrah-collision caution; John frames sin as an enslaving bondage from which only the Son can free a person, not primarily as isolated deeds weighed individually.
Glory
Approved rendering: المجد
Transliteration: al-majd
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: النور الإلهي
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Avoid light-based renderings that could evoke Sufi illumination mysticism. In John (2:11; 11:40; 17:5,24), glory language directly supports pre-existence — pair with explicit temporal markers (‘before the world existed’). [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Grace And Truth
Approved rendering: النعمة والحق
Transliteration: al-ni’mah wa-l-ḥaqq
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: χάριν καὶ ἀλήθειαν
Category: Faith
John 1:14,17. A Johannine hendiadys echoing Exodus 34:6, applied to Christ as the definitive revelation of God’s covenant character. Compounds the grace entry’s risk with the al-Haqq divine-name collision.
Grace
Approved rendering: النعمة
Transliteration: al-ni’mah
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: الفضل, الرحمة
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
الفضل and الرحمة both function in Islamic theology as favor responsive to obedience. Must always be qualified as unearned, given apart from works — relevant to John 1:14,16-17’s ‘full of grace and truth’. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Greater Love
Approved rendering: ليس لأحد محبة أعظم من هذه
Transliteration: laysa li-aḥad maḥabbah a’ẕam min hādhihi
Doctrine: Christian Love and the New Commandment
Original: μείζονα ταύτης ἀγάπην οὐδεὶς ἔχει
Category: Church
John 15:13. Defines the pinnacle of love as voluntary self-sacrifice for others, connecting Christ’s own coming death to the ethical pattern for believers.
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: muqaddas
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: طاهر
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Avoid ritual-purity-only connotations. In John applied directly to Christ himself as ‘the Holy One of God’ (6:69), compounding this with a deity-title collision. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Intercession
Approved rendering: الشفاعة
Transliteration: al-shafā’ah
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Shafa’ah is a live, contested Islamic category (Muhammad’s ‘greater intercession’). Relevant background to Christ’s High Priestly Prayer (John 17) interceding for his disciples; must be taught as exclusive, not one intercessor among several. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Israel
Approved rendering: إسرائيل
Transliteration: Isrā’īl
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Contemporary political sensitivity requires deliberate pastoral framing so John’s usage (1:49; 3:10) is not read through a present-day political lens. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
It Is Finished
Approved rendering: قد اكتمل / تم
Transliteration: qad iktamal / tamm
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: انتهى (implies mere cessation, not completive accomplishment)
Original: τετέλεσται
Category: Christology
John 19:30, tetelestai. Must retain completive, perfect-aspect force so the finality and sufficiency of Christ’s atoning work — parallel to the baseline justification entry’s one-time forensic verdict — is preserved against any works-completion framework.
Judicial Blindness
Approved rendering: أعمى عيونهم وقسّى قلوبهم
Transliteration: a’mā ‘uyūnahum wa-qassā qulūbahum
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy and Inspiration of Scripture
Original: ἐπήρωσεν … ἐπώρωσεν (citing Isaiah 6:10)
Category: Judgment
John 12:37-40, citing Isaiah 6:10. Must be framed as judicial response to sustained, willful rejection already documented (12:37), not detached fatalism (contrast folk-qadar caution in baseline election/providence).
Light Of The World
Approved rendering: نور العالم / النور
Transliteration: nūr al-‘ālam / al-nūr
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Christology
John 8:12; cf. 1:4-9, 9:5, 12:35-36. Al-Nur is one of Allah’s 99 Names; applying it as Christ’s self-predicate raises a direct divine-title collision. Avoid conflation with Sufi Nur Muhammadi (created luminous pre-existent being) — Christ’s light is the eternal Word himself, not a created emanation.
Love Of God
Approved rendering: يحب / المحبة
Transliteration: yuḥibb / al-maḥabbah
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Original: ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη
Category: God
John 3:16, 13:1,34, 15:9-13, 17:23-26. Classical Sunni theology frames Allah’s love (Al-Wadud) as conditional, responsive to obedience (Qur’an 3:31-32). John 3:16’s love precedes and causes faith in an unworthy world — the same structural collision as the baseline grace entry, applied to love itself.
One Flock One Shepherd
Approved rendering: قطيع واحد وراعٍ واحد
Transliteration: qaṭī’ wāḥid wa-rā’ī wāḥid
Doctrine: Mission and the Universal Scope of the Gospel
Original: μία ποίμνη, εἷς ποιμήν
Category: Church
John 10:16. Anticipates the ingathering of ‘other sheep not of this fold’ (Gentiles). Same pastoral care as the baseline unity_of_jews_and_gentiles entry; must not be read through a contemporary political lens.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: التقديس
Transliteration: al-taqdīs
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: التطهير
Original: ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
The Spirit’s/Christ’s ongoing work of making believers holy through the truth (John 17:17,19), not ritual purification (wudu/ghusl). [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Signs
Approved rendering: آية / آيات
Transliteration: āyah / āyāt
Doctrine: Signs as Revelatory Witness
Original: σημεῖα
Category: Faith
John 2:11,23; 3:2; 4:48,54; 6:2,14,26; 9:16; 11:47; 12:37; 20:30-31. Shares vocabulary with the Qur’anic ayah; every occurrence needs contextual framing so John’s signs are not assimilated to mere prophetic-office validation — they reveal Christ’s divine identity (20:31).
Sin
Approved rendering: الخطية
Transliteration: al-khaṭīyah
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: الذنب, الإثم
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Islamic fitrah doctrine holds each person is born in a state of natural purity, denying inherited or enslaving sin. John frames sin as guilt before a personal God and as an enslaving bondage (1:29; 8:21,24,34-36). [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: ابن الإنسان
Transliteration: Ibn al-Insān
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
Category: Christology
Draws on Daniel 7:13-14’s heavenly, dominion-receiving figure, not mere ordinary humanity contrasted with ‘Son of God’. Must not be read as emphasizing only Christ’s humanity; the Danielic background makes this an exalted title exercising divine authority to judge (5:27).
Temple Of His Body
Approved rendering: هيكل جسده
Transliteration: haykal jasadihi
Doctrine: Incarnation
Original: ὁ ναὸς τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ
Category: Christology
John 2:19-22. Requires the same apologetic scaffolding as the resurrection doctrine, since a real, historical death of Christ’s actual body must be presupposed before ‘raising’ can refer to anything. Keep الهيكل (temple) clearly distinct from مسجد (mosque).
Testimony
Approved rendering: يشهد / الشهادة
Transliteration: yashhad / al-shahādah
Doctrine: Testimony and the Witness to Christ
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
John 1:7-8,19-34; 3:11,32-33; 5:31-39; 8:13-18; 15:26-27; 19:35; 21:24. Shares vocabulary with the Islamic shahada creedal formula; John’s usage is eyewitness legal attestation, structurally distinct from a recited creed. Disambiguate at first occurrence.
True Vine
Approved rendering: الكرمة الحقيقية
Transliteration: al-karmah al-ḥaqīqiyyah
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή
Category: Christology
John 15:1,5. الحقيقية echoes the الحق/al-Haqq family; fulfills and relocates OT vine imagery for Israel (Ps 80, Isa 5) in Christ. Completes the set of seven ‘I Am’ statements, which must be tracked and cross-referenced together.
Truth
Approved rendering: الحق
Transliteration: al-Ḥaqq
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements / The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
John 1:14,17; 8:32; 14:6; 18:38. Al-Haqq (‘The Truth/The Real’) is one of Allah’s 99 Names; John’s repeated identification of truth with Christ himself intensifies rather than avoids this collision — must not be softened.
Wind Spirit Wordplay
Approved rendering: الريح / الروح
Transliteration: al-rīḥ / al-Rūḥ
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: πνεῦμα (dual sense in 3:8)
Category: Pneumatology
John 3:8. John’s deliberate wordplay exploits the single Greek word pneuma’s dual sense of ‘wind’ and ‘Spirit’; Arabic does not share this ambiguity. Mandatory translator’s note required to preserve the theological point: the Spirit’s activity is perceived by its effects though its source is unseen.
Works Deeds
Approved rendering: الأعمال
Transliteration: al-a’māl
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ἔργα
Category: Judgment
John 3:19-21, 5:36, 9, 10:25,37-38. Central to Islamic soteriology (deeds weighed on the Mizan). Must be taught as diagnostic/revelatory, not meritorious — John’s deeds expose, not earn, a person’s standing.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: غضب الله
Transliteration: ghaḍab Allāh
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: God
John 3:36. Islamic theology also affirms Allah’s ghadab as a real divine attribute; the risk is contextual — keep strictly tied to individual belief/unbelief in the Son, not read through an ethnic or communal lens.
Medium Risk Terms
Covenant
Approved rendering: العهد
Transliteration: al-‘ahd
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: الميثاق
Retain the relational, unilaterally-initiated biblical covenant sense; underlies the Davidic/messianic background of John 1:49 and 7:42’s Messiah-from-David expectation, even where the word itself is not always explicit in the Greek text. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Darkness
Approved rendering: الظلام / الظلمة
Transliteration: al-ẕalām / al-ẕulmah
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: σκοτία
Category: Judgment
John 1:5, 3:19, 8:12, 12:35,46. Broadly shared metaphor; reinforce the moral-choice dimension (‘loved darkness’) rather than mere absence of light.
Flesh Natural Birth
Approved rendering: الجسد
Transliteration: al-jasad
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: σάρξ
Category: New Birth
John 3:6. Must not be equated with the incarnational sense of sarx in 1:14 (see التجسد, baseline); this is ordinary human generation, not the unique event of the Son assuming human nature.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: الأمم
Transliteration: al-umam
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: الكفار
الكفار must never be used. Relevant to John’s anticipated Gentile ingathering (‘other sheep not of this fold,’ 10:16) and the Greeks who seek Jesus (12:20). [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Good Shepherd
Approved rendering: الراعي الصالح
Transliteration: al-rā’ī al-ṣāliḥ
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός
Category: Christology
John 10:11,14. Broadly shared, positive Middle Eastern metaphor with low direct Islamic collision; ensure the self-predicated ‘I am’ claim retains full weight, not flattened into ordinary pastoral leadership when extended to Peter (21:15-17).
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ملكوت الله
Transliteration: malakūt Allāh
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Rejected alternatives: مملكة الله
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Distinguish God’s present spiritual reign from a political/territorial state; John 18:36 supplies the Gospel’s own explicit textual anchor for this distinction, useful against khilafah-style readings. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Living Water
Approved rendering: ماء حي
Transliteration: mā’ ḥayy
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: ὕδωρ ζῶν
Category: Pneumatology
John 4:10-14, 7:37-39. Avoid unintended parallel to the veneration of Zamzam well-water in Islamic practice; must be framed as Spirit-given eternal life, not a physically blessed substance.
Mission
Approved rendering: الإرسالية
Transliteration: al-irsāliyyah
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: الرسالة
Original: ἀποστολή / πέμπω / ἀποστέλλω
Category: Church
Prefer الإرسالية for corporate sending to avoid comparison with risalah, Muhammad’s own prophetic-commission term. John’s Father-sends-Son (3:17; 17:18) is a uniquely intra-divine sending relationship, unlike a prophet’s commissioning. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
New Commandment
Approved rendering: وصية جديدة
Transliteration: waṣiyyah jadīdah
Doctrine: Christian Love and the New Commandment
Original: ἐντολὴν καινήν
Category: Church
John 13:34-35. Must not be assimilated to the legal-obligation sense carried by الناموس; a relational, love-grounded ethic modeled on Christ’s own self-giving love.
Peace
Approved rendering: السلام
Transliteration: al-salām
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: الأمان, الطمأنينة
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Relational, Christ-given peace, not merely psychological calm. In John (14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26), also carries the resonant but deeper parallel to the everyday greeting al-salamu ‘alaykum — Christ speaks peace as its source, not merely exchanging a formula. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Perish
Approved rendering: يهلك
Transliteration: yahlik
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ἀπόλλυμι
Category: Salvation
John 3:16, 10:28. Preserve the stark either/or framing (perish vs. eternal life) rather than softening into a spectrum of possible outcomes.
Providence
Approved rendering: العناية الإلهية
Transliteration: al-‘ināyah al-ilāhiyyah
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Leans toward benevolent divine care and attentiveness; avoid drifting into folk qadar fatalism. Background to John’s Father-Son cooperative sovereignty theme (5:17-19). [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
The Hour
Approved rendering: الساعة
Transliteration: al-sā’ah
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ἡ ὥρα
Category: Christology
John 2:4, 7:30, 12:23,27, 13:1, 17:1. Recurring Johannine phrase for the divinely appointed, sovereignly-timed moment of Jesus’s death and glorification. Track consistently across the whole book, since it grows more theologically loaded through chs.12-17.
World Kosmos
Approved rendering: العالم
Transliteration: al-‘ālam
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Faith
John 1:10, 3:16-17, 4, 12, 15:18-19, 16, 17. Dual sense (loved by God / hostile to God) must be disambiguated contextually per occurrence.
Low Risk Terms
David
Approved rendering: داود
Transliteration: Dāwūd
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Shared, positively-regarded Qur’anic figure; supply Davidic covenant-king typology explicitly, since John 7:42 expects the Messiah ‘from the town of David’ without that typology being self-evident to a Muslim-background reader. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Exhort
Approved rendering: يشجع / يعظ
Transliteration: yushajji’ / ya’iẓ
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω (root, contrast term)
Category: Church
Context-sensitive between entreaty and encouragement; shares a root family with المعزّي (Paraclete/Comforter, John 14-16) — kept here to flag that root relationship so translators do not confuse the general verb with the Critical-risk Paraclete title. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Prophecy
Approved rendering: نبوءة
Transliteration: nubū’ah
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: προφητεία
Category: Covenant
Low independent risk; ties to fulfillment of prophecy taught against Islamic naskh (abrogation) default in John (5:39,46; 12:14-16,38-41). [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Prophet
Approved rendering: نبي
Transliteration: nabī
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
Correct but insufficient on its own; pair with fuller Christological titles so ‘prophet’ (applied to Jesus in 4:19; 6:14; 7:40; 9:17) is not read as his complete or final identity, especially given khatam an-nabiyyin. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Rabbi
Approved rendering: رَبِّي / يا معلّم
Transliteration: Rabbī / yā mu’allim
Doctrine: Testimony and the Witness to Christ
Original: ῥαββί
Category: Church
John 1:38,49; 3:2; 20:16. Phonetically similar to, but etymologically unrelated to, الرب [Lord]; footnote recommended at first occurrence so the two are never conflated.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: الشكر
Transliteration: al-shukr
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Shukr is also a major Islamic virtue; broadly compatible. Relevant to John 6:11,23’s ‘having given thanks’ before the feeding miracle. [Inherited from Romans package; unchanged for John.]
Referenced passages